In the first month following the devastation, more than 1,000 victims were registered at shelters in Springfield and West Springfield. Dinners were served at the First Church of Monson. Some 300 residential and commercial buildings were significantly damaged during the tornadoes, including 20 in Springfield’s South End.

Rick Lee, executive director of the local Red Cross chapter, called the level of cooperation unprecedented in his work experience.

Communities pulled together. The Federal Emergency Response Agency did, in fact, respond. Gov. Deval Patrick sent 1,000 members of the National Guard to help.

The South End of Springfield still bears visible scars on the landscape, as do many other areas.

For many, there are still reminders every day of that awful time. Such moments can mark a dividing line in a person’s memory. There is the time before and after.

Two years after the tornadoes struck, Monson residents planted trees. In March, the steeple at the First Church of Monson was raised. The image of the old steeple had become an icon of the tornado damage of that day.

Aid and reimbursements from FEMA have totaled $90 million to the city of Springfield. Those funds will pay for a new South End Community Center and a new senior center at Blunt Park as well as the expansion of the Clifford Phaneuf Environmental Center at Forest park and renovations to the former Arthur MacArthur Army Reserve Center.

In addition, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield is rebuilding the tornado-damaged Cathedral High School with $29 million in disaster aid and a $50 million insurance settlement.

Square One day care center in the South End of Springfield was irreparably damaged and later demolished. Doubly hit, Square One’s new quarters were blasted by the natural gas explosion of November 2012.

Springfield will receive 100 percent reimbursement to replace the Elias Brookings School, destroyed by the tornado. It is scheduled to be finished by February 2015. In addition there are funds available to renovate the Mary A. Dryden School.

Four new houses replaced homes on Springfield’s Central Street. Three homes will replace Spruce Hill Nursing Home and more private homes are planned for vacant lots. In that same neighborhood, the New Hope Pentecostal Church rebuilt from substantial devastation, according to Rebuild Springfield’s report on the state of the city.

Meanwhile, volunteers in Monson and Springfield’s East Forest Park have planted trees to replace those torn out by the tornadoes.

A campsite in Brimfield was heavily damaged. Two years after the tornado, 63 of the 160 campsites were usable.

Ground broke in October for a new Monson Town Hall-police station that will be paid for by a $3.4 million debt exclusion by local taxpayers and a $6.9 million insurance settlement.

In every affected neighborhood, volunteers materialized to help clean up and start over.

Habitat for Humanity built a home for Juan Guerrero, whose West Springfield home was crushed by the tornadoes.

Other houses have been torn down and some have been rebuilt. Monson relaxed the timeline for rebuilding of tornado-damaged houses, from two to three years, so its residents would have ample time to rebuild.